Last week, I headed on over to the Prada boutique at Pavilion Kuala Lumpur, for the Fall/Winter 2017 Preview of the Women’s and Men’s collections, where I got to learn some pretty interesting facts about the collections, and the inspirations behind them, which I will now share with you!

For the women’s FW17 Ready-to-Wear collection, Miuccia Prada took inspiration from the Italian film, The City of Women. However, instead of being inspired by the film itself, she only used the film’s title to come up with the concept of the many types of roles that women play, depending on the  type of social contexts in which they find themselves. With this in mind, Miuccia created the idea of  women in the 1970s, and juxtaposed the idea of the “working girl” reflected by her extensive use of corduroy in the collection, against the “sexy lady”, represented by feathers and fur, because these were traditionally perceived as elements of seduction. To further reinforce this this sensual vibe, she also incorporated the pinup girl illustrations by artist Robert McGinnis (the creator of the Breakfast at Tiffany’s movie poster).

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Bead-embellishments, too, featured quite prominently in the collection, with each bead meticulously hand-sewn individually onto the pieces, that involves a complicated 4-step process, and takes a total of 10 hours to complete. Precision is key, as the exact positioning of each bead is first indicated on a sheet of tracing paper, which will then be placed atop the item of clothing. Each bead will then be sewn by hand onto the tracing paper, and once that is done, the beads will then have to be removed from the tracing paper, and then sewn onto the garment.

Apart from using the beads to create floral patterns and motifs on the clothing, Miuccia also used beads and feathers as embellishments on one end of the chunky cable-knitted scarves. These knits, which were also used on the bags, had that certain “homemade” vibe to it, due to what she calls “intentional imperfections”, as some of the knotted ends of the yarn were left exposed, instead of tucked in and woven together with the other strands — notice the red knot on the scarf and the pink on the bag, just above the logo?

And now, on to my favourite part — the bags! You’re probably already familiar with the Cahier bag, but for FW17, the Cahier is now in a trompe l’oeil version of the original, and in velvet. The other key bags for the season include the Frame bag in either printed Saffiano leather or fringed leather, and the Etiquette bag, which you’ve already met in this blogpost. 

And here, we have the nylon version of the Etiquette bag, which comes with an optional top handle add-on, sold separately. How genius it is of Prada to step ahead of the pack and create interchangeable top handles now that everyone is on the bag straps bandwagon? One other thing about the Etiquette bags which I didn’t mention in the previous blogpost, is that the interior of the etiquette bags from the collection are all lined in baby blue, to match the logo’s label on these bags 😉

Lastly, Miuccia also made socks  quite a big deal in this collection, and all her heels can actually be paired with socks! Personally, it’s not my kinda style, but I really do have to admit that they really looked good with the shoes! The socks (and some of the outerwear and sweaters from the collection) are made from the highest grade of Alpaca, known as Suri Alpaca.

And now,  it’s on to the Men’s FW17 collection! Yes, I know, you male readers of mine are probably going yes, it’s about time now! =P

Like the women’s collection, there was also ample use of corduroy in the Men’s FW17 collection. While corduroy, for the women, signified the “career girl”, Miuccia’s use of this material in the Men’s line, is imbued with more political undercurrents. Here, it represents the “working class” male, simply because their work uniforms and overalls were commonly made of corduroy. This was something she bore witness to, having attended her fair share of political demonstrations and rallies during her time as a Political Science major during times of great political unrest in Italy during the 1970s.

On the Men’s FW17 runway, we saw plenty of corduroy looks, whether they were outerwear, suits, pants, or blazers, and some of them, were even accessorised with long necklaces with stone, or even wooden twig pendants, which at first, were seemingly discrete. I really couldn’t quite comprehend how they were connected when I first saw them coming down the runway on the models, but after attending this preview, I learnt that these necklaces were supposed to be talismans that signified a sign of hope towards a brighter future during those dark days of the Anti-Establishment period.

Loafers and Brogues seem to be a big part of the men’s collection, with studded criss-cross sandals for a more relaxed daytime look. In all honesty, I’d actually wear these studded sandals, well, yeah, because they’re studded, but also because I probably can fit into one of the smaller men’s sizes because I don’t exactly have small feet =P heh.

I hope you enjoyed coming along with me on this virtual preview of Prada’s Women’s and Men’s Fall/Winter 17 collection! Special thanks goes out to Team Prada for having me!

All images by Bag Addicts Anonymous